Print of the Day!! Wed, Dec 15, 2021, is by Howard Finster (1916-2001): "Howard Talks to Anamels...(sic)", etching, 1998, 48/50, $1,800.00.

Print of the Day!! Wednesday, December 15, 2021, is by American Ousider artist Howard Finster (1916-2001). This etching is also being offered through the new Satellite Print Fairs' on-line website: OnPaper.art.

"Howard Talks to Anamels..." (sic) is an intaglio, an etching from the "Folk Image" portfolio, done in 1998 after a drawing from around 1982 by American Outsider artist Howard Finster (1916-2001). The platemark measures 14-1/8 x 10-1/4" inches. This impression is pencil signed and editioned 48/50 in the lower margin and is titled within the text. It was published by the artist and Andrew Van Sickle in an edition of 50 and printed by Michelle Red Elk and Werner Kennebeck at Mark Patsfall Graphics, Cincinnati, Ohio (chop, lower left margin) on heavy, Arches Buff wove paper that measures 19-1/2 x 14-3/4 inches. A reference for this image is the printers "MPG 132-III", in pencil on verso.?Our inventory number for this early etching is TOPE120.

This intaglio by Howard Finster (1916-2001), is available from the gallery for $1,800.00. Contact the gallery with any condition or other questions.

Shipping costs will be discussed. California residents will have sales tax added. Out of state residents may be responsible for use tax, depending on state law.

Sometime around 1982, Howard Finster created a series of drawings that would later be titled Self Portrait, Howard Talks to Animals, Tribute to Silverhill Baptist Church, and My Castle. In 1998, these were reproduced as etchings in a loose leaf portfolio entitled Folk Image / by Howard Finster, Man of Vision. The portfolio was published by Finster and Cincinnati artist, collector, and Outsider Art promoter Andrew Van Sickle. The etchings were printed by Michelle Red Elk and Werner Kennebeck at Mark Patsfall Graphics in Cincinnati, Ohio in a series of fifty impressions, with ten artist's proofs, two printer's proofs, two shop proofs, and one BAT. Finster signed the prints in the lower right and the edition numbers, written in a more steady hand, were probably added by the publisher.

Howard Finster, painter, sculptor, Outsider artist and minister, was born in Valley Head, Alabama, on December 2, 1916. One of thirteen children born to Samuel and Lula Finster, Howard began experiencing visions sent to him in dreams at the age of three. He decided that these visions came from God and he continued to receive them through primary and secondary school. On the advice of his sixth grade teacher, Finster stayed after class for a revival. Inspired, he soon decided to be baptized and dropped out of school at age of thirteen years old with the intent to spread the word of his visions. At the age of sixteen, he began preaching at local churches and publishing sermons and poetry in local newspapers, and by the late 1930s he established his own radio program.

Beginning in 1940, Finster ministered throughout Georgia for three decades. He labored as a brick layer, carpenter, plumber, and bicycle and small-engine repairman to support his wife Pauline and their five children. Throughout this time Finster would translate onto paper and other surfaces what he called "painted sermons," using pictographic symbols he claimed were signs from God delivered by the Holy Ghost. He referred to this written symbology as the "Unknown Language," and it would appear in his artwork throughout his career. After moving to Trion, Georgia, he began to build an outdoor museum on his property, with the intent of recreating in miniature one of everything invented by humankind. Running out of space, he moved his family to Pennville in 1961 and began building the Plant Farm Museum, later to be called Paradise Gardens. Four years later, he retired from preaching to devote his time to his art garden.

Finster's reputation as an Outsider artist grew exponentially once the Plant Farm Museum was established, and he was featured in Esquire magazine and interviewed on local news stations. In 1976, Finster began to pursue art in the formal sense of the word, after experiencing a vision instructing him to "paint sacred art." He began painting religious motifs as well as pop culture and historic icons, political figures, and UFOs, using paper, cardboard, wood planks, metal, and structures on the property. These compositions often included written words and his Unknown Language symbology. Finster claimed that God told him to create 5,000 images which led him to number every painting he created. He accomplished that number by 1985 but continued to create and number his works; at the end of his life the number neared 47,000.

To purchase this work or read a biography for Howard Finster use this link: https://www.annexgalleries.com/inventory/artist/5055/Finster/Howard

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